Family Seeks $1.1 Million in Cyberbullying Lawsuit

After being adopted into an American family, a boy originally from Ethiopia and currently in eighth grade, has faced bullying and cyberbullying since his arrival here a few years ago in Williamson, Tennessee. His foster family decided, after appealing many times to school administrators to take action, to sue the school district for $1.1 million. The cyberbullying the boy has received included racial slurs and even death threats. “They simply want the schools to take action here and to treat this as the serious matter that it is,” attorney Larry Crain said. The school’s attorney, in a letter, stated that the taunts were classified as “private speech” protected by the First Amendment and that the school had no jurisdiction at all. Williamson County Schools refused to comment on the lawsuit.